Things to do in Surabaya 

1 ) House of Sampoerna Cigarette Factory

Maybe it’s kind of misnomer because the main feature is not a factory over there instead of a dutch style museum with four big pillars which prop the main building. It was an orphanage that built in 1862 and managed by Dutch government. Then it is bought by Liem Seeng Tee, who is founder of Sampoerna, and made it to be the first Sampoerna production house. 

 

Here, you may have a look to this brand’s history of one of the biggest cigarette in Indonesia and watch how this legendary cigarettes are made. It has 2 floors with specialities in each floor. The first floor is the place where the production tools are shown in such a showcase starting from cigarettes maker, cigarettes igniter, cigarettes stall replica, to an old school bike that was used by Sampoerna founder to sell the cigarettes. After enjoying the showcase, you can have a seat in a café over there to sip a cup of coffee. 

 

Afterwards, we can also observe how the production line in sampoerna factory are running in the second floor from behind the glass. 

2 ) Kapal Selam Monument

You may not imagine that you would find a Russian submarine in Surabaya but this is exactly what is on show at Monumen Kapal Selam. The submarine was used by the Indonesian navy until it was decommissioned in 1990 and then set up as a museum in the city. As such you can now climb aboard and tour the submarine which sits in the wider harbor and is a great way to learn some of the history of Indonesia’s navy.

3 ) Bromo Mount

One of the main highlights of East Java is Mount Bromo which is a volcano that is technically still active. The smoldering mountain lies in the wider Bromo Tengger National Park and one of the easiest ways to get here is to take the famous Bromo Midnight Tour that leaves from Surabaya. As the name suggest you will leave around midnight in order to get to the volcano in the early hours of the morning where you can watch the majestic sun rise over the lip of the crater. Certainly if you visit Surabaya then this is one day trip that you shouldn’t miss and for many is a highlight of a trip to Java. 

4 ) Suramadu Bridge

The Suramadu National Bridge is one of the longest in this part of the world and runs between Surabaya and the neighboring island of Madura. If you walk along the waterfront in the city you can take in the majesty of the bridge and one of the best times to come here is after dark

when the bridge is illuminated with a variety of colorful lights.

5 ) Surabaya National Monument

This one is the most famous patriotic tourism spot in Surabaya, we can say your trip to Surabaya isn’t complete when you haven’t visited this place yet. In this place

we can see lots of legacy of hostillity that was occurred in Surabaya several years ago. The atmosphere of patriotic spirit are felt so strong here with the diorama in the center room that depict how “Arek – arek Suroboyo”, term to call youth surabayan fighter, fight dutch’s army. Moreover, we can here Bung Tomo’s speech that burnt youth’s spirit to keep fighting no matter what until those invaders were gone from Surabaya.Â